USDA Milk Production

USDA Milk Production - March Milk Production up 1.8 Percent

March Milk Production up 1.8 Percent

Milk production in the 23 major States during March totaled 17.2 billion pounds, up 1.8 percent from March 2015. February revised production at 15.8 billion pounds, was up 4.6 percent from February 2015. The February revision represented an increase of 4 million pounds or less than 0.1 percent from last month's preliminary production estimate. Adjusting February production for the additional day due to leap year causes February revised production to be up 1.0 percent on a per day basis.

Production per cow in the 23 major States averaged 1,993 pounds for March, 31 pounds above March 2015. This is the highest production per cow for the month of March since the 23 State series began in 2003.

The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major States was 8.64 million head, 19,000 head more than March 2015, and 9,000 head more than February 2016.

January-March Milk Production up 2.1 Percent

Milk production in the United States during the January - March quarter totaled 53.0 billion pounds, up 2.1 percent from the January - March quarter last year.

The average number of milk cows in the United States during the quarter was 9.32 million head, 5,000 head less than the October - December 2015 quarter, but 7,000 head more than the same period last year.